My Best Friend the Lab Project
by Kitten With A Tie
Summary: What if your best friend was a lab project? That's what Max is going to find out. He finds Hope, a cat with special powers, after being captured. She was tested on. He was not. Max struggles to keep his new friend a secret, and the man who tested her is struggling to track her down. MaxxOC, GrapexRufus
1. Expirements

_**"They told me I could be anything, so I became a lab expirement."**_

_**Thursday, 5/15/12, 6:30 PM**_

_**-x-**_

_I can hear it again._

The crying. The wailing. The pleas to stop.

"It will be over in a moment," the voice coos, and the wails and screams go louder. I press myself against the back of my cage, my chest heaving and my heart beating faster.

"Please!" The words are much clearer. "S-stop!"

This time, he doesn't reply. He just replies, "Sh. If you struggle, you will make it worse."

I hear the sound of flesh being stabbed, a blood-curdling scream, then silence.

I curl my fingers around the symbol that clings to my collar. It is a psychic eye, with a purple iris, shaded in a delicate silver-blue. My owner, before I was kidnapped, was a psychic. Of course, he didn't have much business because he was a fraud. But somehow, I knew he was psychic.

I prick my ear to see a body being carried away. I notice its a rabbit, by the looks of it. Its neat grey fur was mangled and dirty, and there were needles stabbed into its neck and face. I cringe as I notice that many of his fingers were missing, and his eyes were wide open, the pupil extended, covering the amber color. His mouth is open, blood still dripping and staining his pale grey muzzle.

I shiver as I hear the body being thrown down the chute to be grinded and destroyed. My eyes widen as I see the man.

He's tall and bony, with long, thin fingers. His eyes are golden, except one of them has a scratch over it. He's wearing a long labcoat, stained with blood and other fluids. He wore long, black pants with dark brown slacks.

"Slave," his voice drawls, "bring me expirement thirty-two."

I struggled to press myself closer against the back of my cage, but a hand forces the door open and reaches in for me. I panic, so I claw and scratch the man. He only laughs and grabs me by the throat.

I find myself on a giant lab table, with chains holding me against the cold platform. The man walks up to me and looks me over.

"Ah," he growls, "a cat." He presses his bony finger against my stomach, and I shudder at the strange throat. "Not just any cat." His voice is low and threatening, yet icy calm. It scares me at how dangerous and cold his voice is, yet, its so... calm. "A bengal cat- _Felis Bengalensis."_

Suddenly, his hand lashes out, and I close my eyes and wait for the pain to come. But all I feel is a tug around my throat, and a loud snap. My eyes flash open, and my collar is gone.

The man smiles and holds my collar, and waves it at me. "You won't be needing this anymore," he sneers, and breaks the collar in half, then throws it away.

He turns his back on me, and begins to fumble with something. I struggle in the chains, since they were starting to dig into my wrists. A moment later, the man spins around. He's holding a collar. It's thin and grey, with a tag on it. It reads _expirement thirty-two _in bold red letters.

He forces the collar on me, and it tightens over my throat. "Now," he growls, "time to begin the expirements."

_**-x-**_

First, he gives me an injection... right on my butt. I shriek and try to get away, but he places a firm hand on my back and presses the sharp point near the right side of my rear. The pain is agonizing, and I let out a low moan of pain.

Then, he turns me back on my back, and I wince. He's holding a giant needle, about a inch long. Its filled with a bright green liquid, which bubbles inside the tube. I gasp, my eyes widening. "This will only hurt," he sneered, "a little bit."

Then, the needle comes down, right on my leg. I scream.

The pain throbs, and throbs, and throbs. My leg feels like its being stabbed a million times in the same place. Eventually, the pain narrows down to just a small ache.

"That was the mind reading," he explained as he cleaned the needle. _What's he talking about? _He turns his back to me. "The psychic powers are next..." _This man is insane._

Mind reading and psychic powers... what the heck is he talking about?

The man faces me again, this time with a even bigger needle. It was at least two inches longer, and the blue liquid bubbled furiously in the giant tube. I felt my tail bristle... and that was the last thing I could remember before I passed out.

_**-x-**_

When I woke up again, I was back inside my cage. Both my legs were throbbing, and I could feel blood in my fur. I lifted up my head and changed positions so that my front faced the dor of the cage. I sighed and looked at the two small bowls. One had some dirty water in it, and the other had this weird, bubbly slop in it.

I dipped my hand in the mucky water and use it to wash my dirty fur. I hadn't bathed in what seemed like a week- it was Thursday, and I had gotten captured on Saturday. My stomach grumbled as I remembered _how _I had gotten caputred- chasing a plastic mouse right into a cage.

I stare down at the slop, and my stomach groans. Suddenly, some of the slop rises up. I jump backwards and hit the cage wall, and the slop falls down with a _plop._

"Hey!" I hear one of my jailmates holler. "Keep it down over there!"

I don't even bother apologizing. My lips have already twisted into an excited grin. Focusing on the lock, I narrow my eyes. I have never focused as hard. The lock jiggles, and begins to slide out... "Hey, you!" the same jailmate yells. "I thought I told you to keep it down! I bet you're just a little poodle, causing trouble!"

I slam my fist down in anger and frustration. Then I focus on the lock again, and it jingles some more before falling to the ground.

I had done it.

I was free!

The mind powers had worked...

I grab both my bowls and place them on my lap. "Hey!" I shout. "Prison guard!"

Immediatly, the man spins around to face me. He was tall, but not as tall as the insane lab guy. He wore a black sweater and grey sweat pants, with blue sneakers. His hair was messy and a dark brown, and hung over his face like moss.

"You should guard your prison better," I call, and laugh the bowl of water at him. It hits him smack in the face, and he stumbles backwards before his head connects with the cages and he falls to the ground.

"What's going on out there?" The lab man comes out of the dark room, but he freezes when he spots me. His cold grey eyes narrow dangerously. "It worked," he said in his icy calm voice. "It worked!" His voice slowly rose, and then he broke out into a bout of insane laughter.

"Here, kitty kitty," the man coos, curling his pointer finger at me. "Come here, little pussycat..." That was the last thing he said - I think - before his words were choked out by me tossing the slop at him.

I trot away, my tail high, before I hear a voice. "Hey, kitty!" It was the same voice of the jailmate who had been screaming at me. "I'm sorry for what I said! Why don't you help a fella out?" he added, sounding desperate.

I narrowed my eyes. The little thing might've made my fur stand on end, but, I was a polite cat, and I found the button that opened all the cages, and I slammed it with my paw. All the animals jumped out of their cages and raced away, yowling and barking.

The jailmate who had screamed at me walked up to me. He was a cat- a dark grey tom with a lighter underbelly, and a giant chunk missing from his right ear. Around his neck was a blue collar with a giant yellow bell, which I noticed made no sound.

"Man," the tom groaned, and stretched, "it felt like _years _in there. I was so cramped up..." He sighed, then looked at me. "Sorry for screaming at you."

I shrugged. "It's alright." I turned my back, preparing to leave, but his paw was placed on my shoulder. "Do you have a home?" he asked.

I felt my heart sink down to my stomach. "No," I whispered. "When the man took me, he... killed my owner."  
"You can stay with me," he said. "Tomorrow, I'll show you around! Maybe you could even meet my girlfriend, and some of my friends," he added. His green eyes shined. "What's your name?"

I lowered my head. "Ummm..." My owner hadn't named me, but whenever a customer would come in, he'd whisper, "I hope this works... we need the money."

"Hope," I decided. "My name is Hope." The grey tom grinned. "My name's Max!" he replied, then suddenly, his hand was in mine. "Lets go," he ordered. "I was a street cat once- I know every corner of this place!"

So Max led me out of the lab place, and we were outside. It was raining pretty hard, and as the cars whizzed by, rain flew through the air and soaked our fur. "Don't worry," Max gasped. "We'll get out of here soon."

We entered a forest, and the sounds of animals moving through the trees and rain pittering on the leaves filled our ears. "Uh, this way!" Max said, and I followed him. "No.. it's that way!" We began going around in circles, passing our pawprints that were sunk deep into the mud, and the rocks and fallen branches that Max had tripped over.

I flattened my ears as I realized what was going on.

We were lost.

_**-x-**_

**First chapter... done! Second chapter... coming soon.**

**Max doesn't belong to me. Hope and the other animals/people I mentioned belong to me! ^w^**


	2. New Prey

**I'm going to stop doing the date and time thingy. Too confusing.**

_**-x-**_

_"Max, who's your new friend?"_

Yes, we had made it home. Wewere soaked to the bone, and I could feel mud drying in between my toes. My whole body ached from running - we had been chased by a angry band of squirrels - and dodging cars when they crossed the road.

"This is hope," Max replied, pointing at me. I straightened up the best I could, and smiled, "Pleasure to see you, sir," I said. Did I mention I had a british accent? 'Sir' sounded like 'suhr.' And 'pleasure' sounded like 'pleausah.'

Max's dad inspected me carefully. "Alright," he said finally. "She can live here. But," he quickly added as Max rose up to do a victory dance, "you have to tell her the rules, and what we do around here."

Max beamed. "Come on, Hope!" I was taken up the stairs. The house smelled of fresh peanut butter, and the faint smell of catnip and parsley. "Oh, I forgot to mention," he said, "that there's a-"

"What are you doing?" The fur on my tail bristled as a big brown dog strolled right on to us, his green eyes narrowed and fixed on me. "T-this is Bino," Max stammered. "He's..."

"None of your business. Move, twerp," he added, shoving Max aside and pushing his muzzle against mine. His breath smelled of _expired _peanut butter. Peanut butter that had been underneath the couch and was molding. Peanut butter that should of _long _been thrown away.

I narrowed my eyes and stared into his green eyes, which were ivy-green pits of anger. I focused on them, and eventually, I managed to get past his wall and into his head. **(Quick note: I made most of this stuff of about Bino.) **He had a fear of water and hedgehogs. He loved to eat expired peanut butter, and whenever nobody is around, he licks his butt. He's jealous of his older brother, Fido, who is more popular then him.

"Fido, huh?" I said aloud. Bino's floppy brown ears instantly fell. His green eyes narrowed. "How do you know my brother's name?" I opened my mouth to reply, but Max grabbed my arm and led me inside the room beside the one Bino had came out of.

As soon as we were inside, the door slammed, and Max spun around to face me. "You can't do that," he gasped, facing me, his back pressed against the door.

I tilted my head and faced him. "Do what?" I asked innocently. "Your powers!" Max said, approaching me. "If Bino finds out, the whole neighborhood will know, and then..." he gulped. "You'll be in trouble."

I flicked my ear. "I will use my powers when I want," I said curtly. I spotted a red pillow behind a giant box, and I leaped on the box. "Good night," I said, then jumped off the box and landed on the pillow. I curled up on the pillow and fell asleep.

_**-x-**_

"Hope!" I groaned and turned myself so that I was on my side. I had slept through most of the night, even though many times I woke up. My dreams had been filled with pitch black, and bright green markings everywhere. I heard a voice whispering my name... it sounded like the man at the lab. "Hope!" The voice cried again, and I lifted my head up, annoyed. "What?" I snapped.

It was Max. He was holding a bowl in his paws, and in it was some lumpy brown stuff. Sprinkled on top looked like catnip... and my stomach grumbled with eagerness.

"Is that for me?" I struggled to not sound too eager, but I could feel drool starting to form in my mouth. "Uh... yeah." Max held out the bowl to me, and I took it. I ate slowly- the food tasted delicious, like... hot dogs and steak mixed in with tuna. "Here." I held out the rest to Max, and he took it and devoured in seconds. "Thanks," the tom said. He looked the most embarresed, since the brown food was smeared on his muzzle and clung to his whiskers.

He cleaned it off, brushing his tonuge on his paw and wiping it on his face. "Lets go!" Max mewed. His face looked much cleaner... except for that giant chunk missing on his ear. "What happened to your ear?" I asked.

Max flattened his ears and looked away. "I... I don't want to talk about it," he muttered. But _I _did. I focused on his forehead, struggling to get past his wall. Immediatly, our minds connected. I narrowed my eyes as I searched through his memories- Max holding paws with this purple cat, Max getting chased by Bino... there! I saw Max with both his ears whole. He was tied up... in a truck... broom... alligator... police... a shadow...

"Stop that!" Max suddenly yelled. I guess he suspected that I had been searching through his head. "How'd you know?" I muttered.

"Your eyes," Max responded. "They... turned a vibrant green." A voice suddenly yelled from downstairs. "Max!" his owner yelled. "Hope! Time for school!"

I tilted my head and looked at Max. "School?" I repeated.

"Yeah," he replied grimply. "They just built one about five blocks from here. Coming, Dad!" he added, raising his voice. Max grabbed my paw and led me out his room and down the stairs. Bino was already out the door, and was walking down the driveway and up to a big blue bus. Max and I followed him, and we reached the bus first. We leaped on board and headed to the back of the bus.

Max found a seat, and I plopped down beside him. Max didn't say anything for a while, just stared straight forward, his green eyes wide and his ears still flat. "Max?" I poked his arm. He didn't move.

"Don't move or make a sound," Max whispered out the right side of his mouth. "They'll... hear you. See you."

"Hear or see us do what?" I asked.

The words were barely out of my mouth before a hand came out of almost nowhere and pinned me to the seat by the throat. Evil yellow eyes glared at me, and a smirk was placed on the cat's lips.

"H-hello Grape," Max stammered. We were surrounded. One of them was a brown dog with brown ears and red collar, and beside him was a corgi with a black collar. Beside Grape was Bino, who smirked at us.

"Oh look," Grape sneered. "New prey."  
_**-x-**_

**That's right. Peanut and Grape are bullies. ;a;**

**Grape, King, Peanut, Bino, and Max don't belong to me. Neither does Max's owner. Hope is (c) me!**

**Review :D**


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